The huge merchant fleet losses during the beginning of the
Second World War prompted the setting up of the British Merchant Shipbuilding
Mission which left Britain in September 1940 to tour North America and Canada.
The mission had authority to build and purchase new ships and was to obtain
10,000 deadweight merchant ships at the rate of sixty vessels per annum.
These vessels were to be built to the original 'Empire Liberty' design which was
in essence the first 'North Sands' ship.

The Mission toured a number of shipbuilding and engineering
works and orders were placed and contracts signed for sixty 'Ocean' class
vessels to be built in two U.S. yards. Thirty of the vessels
were built on the West Coast at Richmond, California and thirty on the East
coast at Portland, Maine. All of these 'Ocean' vessels were paid for and
owned by the British Government.

By
1941, Canada's small ship builders had begun to turn out their fleet of merchant
ships which were quite the equal of those from American and British yards and at
the height of the War, Canadian yards were delivering one new ship every three
days. They were launched from seven yards on the West Coast, and eleven on the
East Coast, St. Lawrence and Great Lakes. Of the yards who participated in the
shipbuilding programme, only Davie and Canadian Vickers were completely
established. Burrard had only one slipway but quickly added more while
Victoria Machinery Depot, Prince Rupert Dry Dock, Yarrows and West Coast
Shipbuilders needed much preparation before they were able to participate.
The shipyards on the East coast and Lakes region had similar problems. In
addition two wartime yards were created and closed when the war work was
completed. These yards were United at Montreal and Burrard's South yard in
Vancouver.

A number of skilled personnel were sent from Britain as
although manpower was plentiful in Canada and US, it was untrained. In
both the American and Canadian yards, women were also employed in large numbers,
many in heavy jobs alongside the men.

North Sands

The first ships produced were the 'North Sands' type, so
called as they conformed to original British working drawings supplied by the
North Sands shipyard of J. L.Thompson & Sons, Sunderland. Overall, the
Canadian-built ships differed little from similar British-built vessels.
The ships were designed with a dead-weight of 9,300 tons, but subsequently all
ships of this size were referred to as 10,000 tonners as the war-time
regulations allowed deeper loading.

The 'North Sands' type had 3 coal-fuelled, Scotch boilers.
The bunker hatch was located aft of the funnel and there were coal hatches
on the shelter deck. There was one lifeboat, port and starboard on the
Captain's bridge and one port and starboard on the boat deck.

The plans for the main engines also originated in Britain to
a design by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Company Ltd. Machinery to these
plans was already being constructed in the U.S.A. for their 'Ocean' ships. All
parts had been manufactured to jigs so that the work could be sub-contracted and
the contracts were shared between 17 firms in the U.S.A. and Canada. All the
engines and spare parts were completely interchangeable.

Victory

With the experience gained from the 'North Sands' type, an
improved version known as the 'Victory ' was produced. The 'Victory' type
differed in that they had 2 water-tube boilers instead of the 3 Scotch boilers,
and used oil fuel instead of coal. A result of this was a reduction in fuel
costs and fewer firemen were needed. Both types were shelter-deck vessels but
with certain external differences. The bunker and coal hatches were not required
on the 'Victory' type and re-arrangement of boat positions resulted in 2
lifeboats port and starboard on the boat deck, fitted with Welin-type davits.

Canadian

The 'Canadian' type were constructed so that they had the
optional facilities for burning either oil or coal. This meant that they were
fitted with oil tanks but also had suitable coal bunkers. These vessels reverted
to the Scotch boilers, as these were more suitable for the dual role. The
lifeboat positions also reverted to that of the 'North Sands' type. There
were only three 'Fort' ships of this type and all were completed as Stores
Issuing Ships (two as ammunition carriers).

Burrard Dry Dockyard of Vancouver were the most prolific of
the Canadian shipbuilders and produced 109 of the total 353 Fort and Park boats.

In May 1945, the City of North Vancouver presented the
Burrard Dry Dockyard, Vancouver with an engraving to commemorate the
launch of their 100th ship, the Rupert Park. The engraving was
commissioned from O.B Allans, a Vancouver Jewellery firm. The
engraver was Charlie Kerkhoff (1886-1983) who engraved by hand from a
photograph supplied by Burrard DD. The whereabouts of the plaque
that was presented is not known but a scan of this copy (below) along with
the photograph that it was engraved from, was sent to me by Maureen Venzi who is the granddaughter of Charlie
Kerkhoff.